Earthquake Shakes Melbourne Australia, Aftershocks Felt

A screen grab from the Geoscience Australia website, which shows the epicentre of the quake (see the red dot, pointed to by the red arrow).

Geoscience Australia says Victoria has been shaken by a significant earthquake.

The magnitude 4.4 quake was centred north of the town of Korumburra, in eastern Victoria at 11:32am (AEST).

Geoscience Australia duty seismologist Emma Mathews says the quake was felt from the Melbourne CBD, to 60 kilometres north and 100 kilometres to the east.

"So by Australian standards it quite significant, it was felt widely in Victoria," she said. "We've had over 100 felt reports from the main shock."

"It's not on the scale of events experienced in Japan and New Zealand but that's to be expected because of the nature of the Australian tectonic plate."

Ms Mathews says reports of aftershocks have already started coming in.

The first one, at 12:37pm (AEST) was magnitude 3.2 and the aftershocks will probably continue for some time.

"So the aftershocks have started. Aftershocks are likely to decrease in magnitude over time," she said.

"Based on historical events in Korumburra, in March 2009, there were over 200 aftershocks recorded in the area."

She says only locals will feel the aftershocks as they diminish in size.
Ms Mathews says Korumburra is an active area for earthquakes.
"Prior to this, the two larger events [were] in March of 2009 and these were 4.6 events," she said. [abc.net.au]

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake, with its epicentre near Korumburra in Victoria's east, has been felt more than 100 kilometres away in Melbourne.

The quake, which struck just after 1.30pm (NZT), was centred 7km west of Korumburra, and 120 kilometres south-east of Melbourne.

The earthquake occurred at quite a shallow depth, a Geosciences Australia spokesman said.

The organisation is still working to determine the exact depth of the quake.

It was followed by several other tremors which were felt across Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs, the Herald Sun reports.

Melbourne resident Vicky Watson, who works in the CBD told ONE News the 11th floor of her building was shaking.

Residents in suburbs including Rowville, Trafalgar, Kilsyth, Hawthorn, Elwood, CBD, Melbourne Airport, South Melbourne, Brunswick, Richmond, Lilydale, Fitzroy, Elsternwick, South Yarra all reported feeling the tremors.

Korumburra Hotel publican Troy Patterson said when the earthquake hit, the pub shook for about eight seconds, accompanied by a loud rumbling.

"The whole place literally shook," he said.

"You would think a truck had driven through the pub."

Many Twitter users have also gone online to share their experiences.

"Cold, Windy, Rainy, Earthquakey, what a bloody miserable day Melbourne," says Rhys McCaig.

''That was a big one,'' tweeted one person from Rowville.

But David Flynn was a bit more flippant about it.

"Melbourne declares state of emergency as earthquake spills lattes, makes scarves & wraps fall off racks along Chapel Street," he said.

There are no reports of damage so far.

The area in Gippsland is prone to small earthquakes, with a number of tremors measuring between 1.8 and 4.6 originating in the same area in March and May 2009. [tvnz.co.nz]